Chaos Theory
by Plus2Brilliance
Summary: A new villain appears, and you know what that means...new Rangers! WARNING: Contains nuts...and slash, het, a plethora of OCs, and general disorder. And nuts. Not Rocky/Adam. Promise. :
1. Armageddon

CHaos Theory

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By: Akiko, Keeper of Sheep and Plus2Minus1Brilliance

[Heretofore known as Plus2Brilliance]

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Prologue - Armageddon

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Adam Park was not, by any stretch of the imagination, a moron.

There were times, however, when he didn't quite think things through. The day he decided to let Rocky cut his hair in third grade, for instance. Not to mention when his two best friends went skiing and convinced him he'd be wonderful at it because he knew martial arts. Or the time Rocky talked him into "going stag" to the Homecoming dance in junior high.

In retrospect, Adam could see the correlation between inadvisable things he'd done and Rocky's use of the art of persuasion. The first rule in Adam's Book of Life had long been: When Rocky says it's a good idea, don't do it.

So it wasn't so odd, really, that he was approaching this newest experience with a healthy amount of trepidation. It was, after all, the result of many hours of cajoling on his best guy friend's part.

He remembered the conversation clearly, and found himself slipping into a flashback….

"_Aw, come on, Adam! It's just for a few weeks. A month at most."_

_Adam sighed. He couldn't let himself be sucked in. He had to remain strong. Never mind the fact that any time Rocky asked a favor of him, he would drop everything to acquiesce. He just couldn't let himself be swayed._

"_Rocky, I would love to help, you know that. But I'm really swamped at work right now, and Tanya-"_

"_Is out of the country for the next two months. And you know you're just moping around the place without her there. Come on! It's a good idea, and you know it."_

_Pinching the bridge of his nose, Adam suppressed a groan of despair. That phrase was seriously the first sign of the Apocalypse, and with the whining note subtly entering the Hispanic man's voice, the end was fucking nigh._

"_Please?"_

_Ladies and gentlemen, Armageddon. Please keep your hands and feet inside the apocalypse until existence has come to a full and complete stop._

"_Fine."_

So now, here he was, picking his way methodically through San Diego traffic and hoping to God that substituting for a martial arts instructor wouldn't end with Adam being bald, broken, or allegedly gay.

He was so fucked.

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Author's Note -

Woohoo! We're so very excited to be starting this (finally)!

We've been talking about co-authoring a fic for quite a few years now (ah, memories!), and neither of us can quite believe we've actually started it.

The idea for this fic came about after reading the truly superb fan fiction 'Of Love And Bunnies' by CrazyGirl47 (check it out, it's worth it). Shortly thereafter, a plot bunny laid eggs in P2m1b's brain, and it kind of evolved from there. With many spin-off ideas (see: Akiko's Chaos - or, rather, don't, because it sucks) and plots volleying back and forth, this fic was finally born.

That being said, there are a few warnings.

1) There will be slash! You would be hard-pressed to find a story, any story, that P2m1b has had a hand in that doesn't involve some kind of boy/boy awesomeness.

2) There will be swearing. We're grown-ups, and sometimes we use grown-up words. If you're old enough to know what it means, we hope you're old enough to be reading it.

3) Same goes for the various lime-y moments (and, no, I don't mean the scenes with British people).

4) There will be appearances by Rangers from most series', but the fic is based on original characters. We've tried to make them well-rounded and believable, and we hope you'll come to love them like we do (well, we love some of them - the rest get eaten).

There may be more warnings posted as we develop the story further.

While Akiko tends to be long-winded, we will try to keep the Author's Notes short. Whether or not we will succeed is another matter entirely.

Thank-you for reading, and we hope you enjoy.

Plus2Brilliance


	2. Click

Chaos Theory

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By: Plus2Brilliance

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Chapter One - Click

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**Chaos Theory: **(n) a branch of mathematical and physical theory that deals with the nature and consequences of chaos and chaotic systems. ~From Miriam-Webster

The Red Dragon Dojo (San Diego branch) was located on a mildly busy street in the very center of a small strip mall. To the right of it was a family-owned Laundromat that, much to Adam's bewilderment, appeared to double as an ice cream shop. To the left was an empty space for lease. Adam briefly considered talking to Rocky about buying it to expand his dojo, but decided that more space, for Rocky, only meant more space for chaos to unfold.

The dojo itself looked like any other. It had the requisite sign with the name written in kanji (because all the authentic martial arts studios used kanji), and potentially harmful weapons displayed artfully in the window, surrounded by framed photos of small children holding awards they'd received by learning well how to use said weapons.

With a very put-upon sigh, Adam pulled open the door to enter. It didn't budge. He glanced around and peered through the glass to see that the lights were, indeed, on. He checked the hours of operation and, yes, the place should be open. He then double-checked the little sign on the door that said 'Pull'. Deciding that his life was, indeed, just that fucked up, he tried pushing the door open.

As the offending door swung inward, accompanied by the irritating jingle of the door bell, Adam seriously considered turning around and driving straight back to LA without stopping.

"Welcome to the Red Dragon Dojo, sir; how may I help you," said a voice in a very rehearsed, yet polite English accent.

Curses! His escape was foiled!

Adam smiled weakly at the young receptionist. She looked like a college student. Really, Adam amended, she looked college-aged. She was dressed professionally, a bit like a businesswoman who is just waiting for some unlucky schmuck to make a sexist remark so she can remove his scrotum and staple it to the cubicle wall. She was even wearing a red blouse. This assessment was emphasized by the very fake smile plastered across her otherwise-pleasant face.

"Um, hi," Adam mumbled, a bit put off by the obvious hostility rolling off the young woman. He realized, to his dismay, that she would have to have witnessed his brief yet intense struggle with the door only moments earlier. Clearing his throat, he crossed his arms and shuffled his feet uncomfortably. "In my defense, it did say 'Pull'."

The woman lifted an eyebrow imperiously. "How very nice for you, sir."

There was a long, awkward pause before Adam remembered that he had been invited here by a good friend, and therefore had no reason to feel as though he were intruding on this person's territory. He had every right to be there, after all.

"Rocky asked me to come by," he explained, still chaffing a bit that he felt the need to explain himself at all. Damn his good manners!

"He's almost finished teaching the Adult Intermediate class. He should be about ten more minutes," she finished, turning back to her filing without further comment.

Adam waited.

For the first minute or so, the woman ignored him. About two minutes in, she began to fidget. Finally, at six-and-a-half minutes, she glared up at him.

"There are chairs over there, sir, if you'd like to sit down." Her tone told him that, whether he liked it or not, he would be sitting down in the near future.

With another very exasperated sigh, Adam turned and most certainly did not stomp over to the waiting area like a five-year-old.

Because Rangers don't have hissy fits. Even if he had every right to.

Picking up a magazine that promised to go in-depth into the 2001 presidential election (because back then, they hadn't realized it would be less of an election and more of a zany sitcom), Adam settled in to wait.

It wasn't long before his well-honed senses told him he was being watched. Lowering the magazine, he let out a manly yelp and nearly fell off his chair.

Sitting cross-legged in a chair directly across from him was, Adam was certain, a vampire.

_Get a grip, Park,_ he told himself irritably, _it's broad daylight outside._

Inspecting the wraith-like girl closer, he saw that she was, in fact, a very heavily made-up woman. About the same age as the receptionist, the girl was decked out in the raiment of the hoards of Goths that had infested every school Adam ever went to. Paired with the blue lipstick and blue thermal shirt, her black jeans (complete with chains and mesh and whatnot) and black combat boots gave her a very foreboding appearance. Looking every bit as glum and indifferent to the rest of the world as Eeyore, she was staring at him with frighteningly intense green eyes.

"Um, hello," Adam ventured, hoping he wasn't about to have his soul sucked out.

The woman didn't answer, electing instead to stare at him a bit more.

Adam felt his heart rate pick up. Didn't she ever blink?

Before he could lose control of his vocal cords and ask her which way to purgatory, the doors of the dojo slid open, and a stream of young adults poured out, chattering energetically.

Deciding in that moment that there was a God and that he did love Adam, the ex-Ranger said a silent prayer of thanks and made a beeline for the receptionists' desk again. He swore internally when he felt the Goth girl follow.

Adam scanned the crowd for Rocky anxiously. He hadn't even been here for twenty minutes, and he could feel the utter disorder and calamity closing in. He just wanted to get his schedule from Rocky and get the hell out before something collapsed or stampeded. I had been known to happen. A lot.

He spotted the taller man meandering out of the dojo with two other young adults, one female and one male.

At least, Adam thought he was male. The pink shirt and swaying hips threw him off a bit. But, wait, was that facial hair? Either a guy or a very unfortunate girl, then. His jeans were far too tight to be anything but painted on. Or perhaps he'd been sewn into them, like Marilyn Monroe. He was wearing earrings, too. Really, what was with kids these days?

The girl was almost as odd. She looked like she'd mugged a hobo, what with her torn jeans, black mesh shirt, and faded, ratty sneakers. It looked like her duffle bag was being held together with duct tape and safety pins, but Adam couldn't tell if that was fashion or necessity. And either her gloves were missing fingers, or she had opted for arm warmers.

In southern California.

As they approached the desk, their seemingly innocent conversation became decidedly less so.

"…that's how I got rid of that pesky gag reflex," the young man was explaining with as many flamboyant gestures as possible. "Never let it be said my generation can't display determination and stamina."

Rocky laughed, clapping the man on the shoulder genially, as the girl snorted and rolled her eyes.

"Sure," she added, "but can you hold your breath as long as I can?"

"Girl, I can hold it like Barbra Streisand," was the snappish reply (complete with snapping of the fingers).

As he chuckled along with them, Rocky's eyes locked on Adam and he brightened.

"Buddy! You made it!"

Bounding over to the Asian man like an overgrown puppy, Rocky threw his arms around Adam's middle and hoisted him up in a hug that threatened to render the smaller man unconscious. As he flailed his arms ineffectually, he registered Rocky rattling off a long list of questions like "How was the drive?" and "Where are your bags?" and "Is it dinnertime already?"

"Rock…y! Put…me…down!"

After being set down, smoothing his metaphorically ruffled feathers, and reminding Rocky that it was only noon and was, therefore, not dinnertime, Adam was startled by the exclamation of "Oooh, fresh meat!"

The girl in arm warmers, seemingly oblivious to the icy stare of the receptionist, hoisted herself up on the desk and posed herself like a mechanic's calendar girl. Adam blinked.

"Hey there, hot stuff, I'm Jamie," she purred, tilting her head back seductively. Adam was overcome by the urge to giggle hysterically.

He was saved, ironically enough, by the receptionist.

"Barrett," she said conversationally, "I take no pleasure in this, but Fuck Off."

Sparing the glowering woman a disinterested glance, Jamie Barrett smirked. "Don't you have something to file, or a colony to oppress?"

"Typically cliché riposte from a substandard sheep of the grunge movement," came a reply in a low monotone. Adam turned, and almost jumped out of his skin for the second time in the last half hour when he spotted the Goth leaning against the wall not a foot to his right.

Jamie snorted. "Ebony." She waggled her eyebrows at the receptionist and grinned. "I guess that makes you Ivory."

"Ebony/And Ivory/Live together in perfect harmony," the fabulous young man in pink murmured, twitching his hips in time.

Rocky sighed. "Okay, everyone, time to go. Class dismissed and all that."

Jamie pouted and slid off the desk, taking a stack of impeccably organized file folders with her. The British woman growled.

"Barrett, you twit, I had those in order!"

"Oh, I feel really bad now," Jamie whimpered, smacking herself on the hand. "Bad Jamie!"

Grumbling to herself, the receptionist bent to pick up the files. Rocky, shaking his head in a very long-suffering manner, knelt to help.

"You know she only does it because you react, Maggie," he stated, reaching under the desk for an errant page.

Dropping to her knees, Ebony gave the first signs of human emotion Adam had witnessed from her, exclaiming, "I've got it, Rocky." Unfortunately, in her eagerness to be helpful, she smacked the back of her head on the underside of the desk, sending the pen holder and another stack of files tumbling to the floor.

The entire group of them spent the next few minutes crawling around retrieving papers and clicky pens. Adam wondered briefly if Maggie realized all her pens were clicky ones.

They were all red, too.

He was holding a clickable Sharpie (red) and staring at it contemplatively when a kind, very Australian voice piped up behind him.

"I'm done with the dojo, Sensei. Need a hand out here?"

Rocky grinned at the tall, well-built young Aussie. Adam even mustered up a smile - this kid was the first nearly-normal-looking person he'd met. He was wearing jeans that looked like they didn't take a team of spray-painters to apply them and a t-shirt that wasn't obscene. It was yellow, and said 'This Shirt Is Yellow When I'm Thinking Of Midgets'.

Yep. Most normal person, hands down.

"No, thanks, Shawn. Hey, you did great on your roundhouses today."

As Rocky chatted with Shawn, Maggie returned to her place behind the desk, Ebony leaned back against the wall, and Jamie and her effeminate friend (Gabe, Adam gathered from a snippet of bickering conversation) sat back on the desk.

Adam stared.

Clicking the Sharpie nervously, he let his eyes drift from Maggie's red blouse to Ebony's blue lipstick, from Jamie's all-black ensemble to Gabe's glaringly pink shirt. He glanced over at Shawn, decked out in yellow.

Click-click. Click-click.

It was pretty crazy.

Click-click. Click-click.

It was completely crazy, actually.

Click-click click-click click-click.

There was just no way.

Click-click-click-click-click.

Five pairs of irritated eyes locked on him, and five irritated voices hissed, "Cut it out!"

Adam looked down at the red Sharpie and slid it back into the pen holder amongst its red brethren.

He looked at Rocky and wished he'd stayed home.

Red. Blue. Black. Pink. Yellow.

He was so very, very fucked.

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Author's Note -

So, first and foremost, we have a cast list! Yes, there are actually people cast in these roles, so you'll have some idea of who we picture when we write these things.

Maggie Shay….Louise Lombard

Jamie Barrett…Zooey Deschanel

Gabe Kennedy….Joe Jonas (yes, we're serious)

Ebony Knight…Alyson Hannigan

Shawn Kingsley….Tanc Sade

Other cast members will be added as needed.

If you're wondering about the shirt, no, I don't know if it's available. I got it from a Twilight fan fiction called Underneath Your Scars by HammerHips. If you like Twilight, it's worth the read.

So, things are starting out pretty much like any other Rangers fic - with lots and lots of wackiness! Wackiness, we say!

As always, we adore reviews. If you can't find it within yourselves to be nice, or at least helpful, please deposit your flames in the drop box for later perusal followed by raucous laughter.

Thanks!

Plus2Brilliance


	3. ColorCoded

Chaos Theory

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By: Plus2Brilliance

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Chapter 2 - Color-Coded

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Rocky waved to Jamie as she followed the rest of the unruly troupe out the door. Maggie paused to lock it behind her, knowing that Rocky would leave via the back entrance, as usual.

Rocky still got a chuckle out of Gabe's off-color joke about locking up the back door. That had been the first time he'd met the fashionable young man, and from the first he'd known that Gabe was never at a loss for a catty comeback.

His reaction to Adam had set Rocky to pondering, but knowing his best bud like he did, Rocky was certain that even if anything came of it, it would be a while.

That thought, of course, brought to mind the petite Goth the was invariably knocking something over/falling off of something/setting something on fire when Rocky was around. Of course, that last instance might have nothing to do with him - one never knew with Goths.

Ebony had first shown up at the dojo three years previous to pick Maggie up from her Tai Chi class. It had been before Maggie quit her job at Papa John's and had come to him for a job - he hadn't known her very well, and was subsequently shocked to find the straightforward, motivated young woman palling around with the reclusive Ebony.

She'd looked up at him that first day, and run straight into a wall.

Rocky smiled to himself as he beckoned Adam towards his office. Being a Saturday, there were no more classes for the day, and Rocky was eager to finish up with business so they could get down to the hanging-out part.

As Adam entered the office, Rocky noticed he looked very ashen, his eyes darting about nervously. The taller man frowned.

"You okay, Adam," he questioned hesitantly.

Adam groaned and sank into a chair in front of the desk. "No. Please, please, tell me you saw it, too."

Thinking back, Rocky could pinpoint a number of things that might have bothered Adam. The young man had a vivid imagination, and was awfully superstitious for someone so sensible.

It was probably Gabe's jeans. They took some getting used to. Rocky still wasn't certain that some type of subspace-pocket technology wasn't being implemented there.

"The colors, Rocky! The colors!"

Now extremely concerned, Rocky held up his hands calmingly and sat down. He'd heard that standing over a person on the verge of a psychotic break would only make their condition worse.

"Colors?"

"Red. Blue. Black. Pink. Yellow." Adam planted his hands on Rocky's desk, stood up, and leaned over, a dangerous gleam in his eyes. "Did you know? Is that why you dragged me here from my nice, calm house in my nice, normal neighborhood surrounded by my nice, sane friends?"

"There are sane people in LA?"

"Rocky!"

"Adam," Rocky returned in the same petulant tone. He waited until his best friend had plopped back into his chair with a huff before continuing in his best talking-to-rabid-animals voice. "I have no idea what you're talking about. You know why I asked you to come."

"You said," Adam started in a very accusing manner, "that your Tai Chi and yoga instructor had taken time off. A vacation, you said. No big deal, you said!" By now, Adam's voice had reached a frightening pitch. "You never said you were dragging me into a new Ranger team!"

Rocky sat back in his chair.

He had been considering his options here ever since he'd gotten the idea to call Adam. The fact was, this _was_ the reason he'd called Adam. His best friend was cool in a crisis (once he'd gotten used to the idea of a crisis, that is), and was very good at thinking of all the little things that Rocky tended to overlook. Considering Rocky's suspicions, those qualities would be sorely needed.

Rocky was not like Tommy. Once the Ranger thing had ended (quite painfully), he'd sorted through his life, picked up, and moved on. There was no desire to stay in the game, or to be a hero. Rocky was quite content to run his dojo and pay his rent and date beach bunnies. It wasn't that he wouldn't do his duty as a Ranger if he was called again. It was simply that he knew there were others to do the job, probably better than he could, and the best thing he could do was support them from the sidelines and stay the hell out of their way.

With this attitude, Rocky was positive he had at least an eighty-five percent chance of getting out of this mess without having to learn a new morphing sequence.

He knew, however, exactly what Adam was referring to. In fact, he knew better than Adam just how eerie the five young people could be.

There was Maggie, of course. Responsible, dedicated, and possessing a stubborn streak a mile wide. She loved the color red, to the extent that she always had something red about her person, even if it was just a clickable Sharpie. Maggie was a driven, ambitious young woman with many leadership qualities, even if she tended to take on too much. Or perhaps especially so.

Jason had been a lot like that.

Jamie was a fun-loving type. She was funny, flirtatious, and cool. Everyone liked her, despite her tendency towards sarcasm and her sometimes uncouth behavior. She was always decked out in black - even her gi tended to be black. Adventurous and mischievous, Jamie was definitely an awesome girl.

Kind of how Zack was an awesome guy.

Gabe was Jamie's best friend. Sweet, perky, and sensitive, the young man was the epitome of popularity. He was always dressed in the latest fashions, and most of them were in pink. Gabe had a knack for making people feel loved and included that made him an invaluable friend.

It was Kimberly to a 'T'.

Shawn was always cool in a crisis. Tough when need be, he was actually a pacifist. No one who went up against the level-headed Aussie came out of it feeling like they'd won - it was their good fortune that Shawn always opted to use words, because underneath that gentle exterior was a warrior, who incidentally loved yellow.

Just like Trini all over again.

Ebony was incredibly intelligent. She was contemplative, and shy, to the point of being withdrawn - almost socially awkward, really. Analytical and thorough, Ebony could take any situation and turn it to her advantage. Even though her color of choice at the moment was black, the true blue couldn't help but come into play.

Positively a Billy clone…except the Goth thing.

Rocky paused in his musings, tilting his head to the side in curiosity. Goth Billy. Hmmm.

"Rocky! You aren't even listening to me!"

Snapping back to reality and shoving away thoughts of Billy sleeping in a coffin, Rocky shook his head at Adam incredulously. Time to implement The Plan.

"Adam, I love you, man, but you sound like a lunatic." He clasped his hands behind his head and grinned. "People wear their favorite colors all the time. Are you telling me that every time you see a cluster of primary colors, you have a panic attack?"

Adam scowled. "No. That's not it, and you know it. It was just…it was _them_. The way they act, the way they group, the way they…_exist_. Now tell me, honestly - why did my predecessor leave?"

Rocky winced. He hated it when Adam asked him to be honest. He could never lie to that face. He decided to implement his new hedge-around-the-truth skill.

"He took a month off for his health."

"His health," Adam repeated flatly.

"Yes," was Rocky's definitive confirmation. "He was just tired. It's not easy, you know."

"Yes, of course," was the dry reply, "I know I always need a break from doing calming, healthy, revitalizing routines all day. Centering yourself and aligning your chi is just so tense and nerve-wracking."

"Ha. Ha ha. I'm serious, Adam." Rocky leaned forward, folding his arms on the desk and smiling encouragingly. "You're blowing this out of proportion!"

He wasn't going to mention the woman who gave birth in the waiting area. Or how Maggie had immediately put Ebony in charge of the birth with Shawn assisting. Or how Jamie had rounded up the children in the dojo and occupied them with ice cream provided by Gabe, and how the two of them had spent the afternoon telling stories and singing songs to distract the poor kids.

The woman had named the baby girl Ebony Shauna.

He wasn't going to mention the hang-glider, either. Or how Maggie and Shawn had organized a triage, while Jamie compiled supplies and gave first aid along with Ebony, and Gabe was once more given charge of the terrified children. Every one of those kids went home with smiles, and the paramedics had insisted on petitioning the mayor for the five of them to receive special commendations from the city.

And he definitely wasn't going to mention the monkey. That damned capuchin had wandered right into the waiting area. When the screaming had started that time, Rocky took a moment to round up the kids and calm them down, having a sneaking suspicion that the Fab Five had everything under control. Sure enough, when he'd gotten to the waiting area, there was Ebony, emptying out Jamie's duffle (despite the brunette's protests) whilst Maggie, Shawn, and Jamie surrounded the over-excited creature. On Maggie's signal, Shawn and Jamie had executed a perfectly synchronized lunge from opposite sides, trapping and capturing the simian nuisance whilst Gabe worked his magic on the parents in the room, assuring them that everything was under control. And they _believed him_.

Rocky would always respect the kid for that particular talent.

Right now, however, another crisis was taking shape. Adam was looking at him suspiciously. Rocky was sure it was a Ranger thing. They just _knew_ when weird shit was going to happen. If there was to be any living with Adam, he had to nip this in the bud.

"Seriously, Adam, nothing weird is going on." True. Nothing weird by Ranger standards, anyway. Yet. "I really do just need some help for a little while." Also true. And not just with the dojo. "Everything will be fine." Not strictly true, because even Rocky couldn't see the future, but he had every confidence in himself, in Adam, and in those five very strange people that he was getting to be very fond of.

Standing up, he handed Adam a schedule and a packet of forms to fill out. As they left the dojo, Rocky noticed Adam glancing around in a very paranoid fashion and sighed.

"Come on, man. Let's get some food in you, and you'll calm right down."

"Is food your answer to everything," Adam muttered sullenly.

"No," Rocky replied, "sometimes it's a good ass-kicking."

"I'm being serious here, Rocky. First sign of weirdness, and I'm gone."

Rocky smirked. "Of course you are, Adam. Of course you are."

:::

Author's Note -

That's it for chapter two…and we've finally mastered stating the obvious. Not a lot going in this installment, but we promise more action in the next chapter! Stick with us, kids, and we will deliver much ass-kicking excitement.

Once again, kudos to CrazyGirl47, whose inspiring Rangers-fic Of Love And Bunnies has inspired us to new heights of insanity.

In a side note, HammerHips has recently posted a new chapter for Underneath Your Scars.

In a side note actually pertaining to the authors of this fic, P2m1b has a TMNT fic up called How To Be Yourself When You're Not Yourself. It's full of slash, cross-dressing, shapeshifting, drug-abusing, angst-comedy goodness. Also, on a site elsewhere that you can access via Akiko's profile, there is a Beatles-themed fic that's currently in the works. Chapter one is posted and ready for perusal, so if that's your gig, check it out.

That is all.

Plus2Brilliance


	4. M4D N1NJ4 5K1LLZ

Chaos Theory

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By: Plus2Brilliance

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Chapter Three - M4D N1NJ4 5K1LLZ

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"You know, when I got up this morning, I was pretty sure standing ankle-deep in freezing water wasn't on my To-Do list," Gabe grumbled.

He was irritated for a multitude of reasons. First, he'd worn his nicest pair of skinny jeans, and now they were soaking up water, which would probably ruin the gorgeous embroidery along the cuffs. Second, he'd been interrupted during a particularly enthralling past-time known as boy-watching to help mop. Third, he'd just spent the last two hours making a total fool of himself in front of the most adorable guy he'd ever met.

It had not been an ideal afternoon.

Maggie huffed in agreement as she continued blow-drying the seat cushions. Where she'd gotten the hairdryer, Gabe couldn't say, but the fact that she'd managed to procure one didn't surprise him in the least. Finding exactly what was needed for any situation was actually a trait she shared with Gabe's best friend, Jamie. He half-expected to discover that they had some kind of Hammerspace thing, like in all the anime.

Gabe resolved to have a closer look at Jamie's duffle later.

He glanced over at the shorter woman. Jamie was currently squeezing the excess water out of a hand towel and into a trash can. She had been a bit annoying over the past four days, but it wasn't really her fault. She was just tickled silly by Gabe's crush.

Having known each other since second grade, Jamie had known instantly why Gabe was struck dumb at the sight of Adam Park. He was actually very grateful to her for drawing attention away from the no-doubt embarrassing expression that had been plastered on the young man's face. Granted, he could have done without her flirting with the object of his sudden and absolute obsession, but it did get the job done.

Shawn flashed Gabe a kind smile as the Aussie took the trash can full of water and replaced it with an empty one. Though he hadn't known Shawn as long as he'd known Jamie, he considered the man to be a true friend. He had a sneaking suspicion that Shawn knew exactly how Gabe felt about the Asian man, but unlike Jamie, Shawn was at least nice enough not to say anything.

"You're not the only one suffering, Gabe," Jamie grumbled. "These sneakers cost me a fortune."

"Well, if they were decent shoes, you wouldn't have to worry about them being ruined," Maggie snarked back.

Jamie scowled. "Keep it up, Limey, and I'll stick my ruined shoe up your ass."

"How witty," Ebony drawled from her place on the desk. She had retreated the instant the water cooler had fallen, and was determinedly not helping. Gabe wondered briefly if she'd actually melt if he splashed her, then felt a bit guilty. Ebony wasn't the most people-friendly of individuals, but she wasn't outright nasty to anyone. Well, anyone who didn't deserve it.

Rocky peeked around the corner. "How's everything going, guys," he whispered.

"Remind me again why we can't let Adam know what happened," Gabe inquired.

Grimacing, Rocky motioned for Gabe to keep his voice down. "Ah, Adam's a bit on edge lately. It's just not a good idea to involve him in chaos. His nerves, you know."

"It's a broken water cooler," Maggie pointed out sensibly, "not a broken levee. It's hardly chaotic. It's not even a crisis."

"It's just fucking annoying," Jamie growled.

Rocky's smirk turned into a full-blown grin.

"It's not like the water cooler turned into some kind of alien monster or something," Shawn added wryly. It was, after all, Southern California. That kind of shit happened here.

Rocky burst out laughing. The five sopping wet helpers stared at him incredulously.

Gabe leaned in towards Ebony. "Was it really that funny?"

Ebony shrugged, focusing on her nails (painted dark blue). Gabe suppressed a grin. If he had a crush on Adam, Ebony was madly in love with Rocky. Gabe was actually a bit surprised that Rocky didn't notice.

As he tried in vain to convince Maggie to blow-dry his jeans, Gabe hoped that tomorrow was a little less stressful.

:::

It had been a week and a half since Adam arrive at the Red Dragon Dojo, and he was nearly convinced that this place was a swirling black hole of destruction, disorder, despair, and probably a lot of other 'd' words that meant Bad.

The first few days hadn't been so terrible. In fact, he'd almost convinced himself that Rocky had been right when he'd reassured Adam that nothing weird would happen. There was a bit of oddness on the following Wednesday, when Gabe had been 'auditing' his Beginners' Tai Chi class and Jamie had called the boy out in a strangely perky voice. He hadn't seen Gabe for another hour, when the younger man had trudged back in to collect his bag, his footsteps squishing oddly. Like anyone who had been forced to master the art of denial, Adam had assumed that Gabe had stepped in a puddle or something.

Yes. A puddle.

But then Thursday rolled around, and Rocky, in a fit of genius, decided to treat Adam to lunch at Sonic. Having never been to the retro-themed drive-in, Adam had accepted with some anticipation. Unfortunately, his nerves had been rubbed a bit raw by the look on Rocky's face. He'd been grinning like a madman the entire way, but had insisted in his 'I'm so innocent, I can't _possibly_ be plotting something' voice that Adam was going to enjoy lunch very, _very_ much.

He did not enjoy his lunch. It was probably just the way Rocky had been acting, but by the time they got to Sonic, Adam had fully expected the place to collapse into a sinkhole or something. So really, after he'd gotten home and relaxed a bit, he was almost willing to concede that any strange happenings had been the product of his over-active imagination.

The first sign that something untoward was going on was the fact that after sitting in the car for a few minutes, carhops began skating about covered in various foodstuffs. One poor girl looked like someone had tried to drown her in the shake machine. Another was trailing strawberries behind him as he made his way to another car. But Rocky didn't seem bothered. In fact, no one seemed very bothered at all, except the one kid skating towards the building with a shout of 'Dear God, is he on fire!' So perhaps this was normal procedure at the drive-in. After all, Adam had never been there. What did he know?

The anxious man had been somewhat surprised and incredibly apprehensive when he spotted Gabe rolling towards them with a tray loaded down with food. And a very, very pink shirt. Really, did the kid ever wear something that didn't contain pink?

Even stranger was the fact that Gabe was miraculously free of any edible items. Rocky, being the complete bastard that he was, snickered that it was a shame that Gabe was the only one who didn't have anything to be licked off of him.

Whatever the hell that was supposed to mean.

As Gabe had skated away after mumbling through their order and dropping change everywhere, Adam pretended not to notice him trip over the curb and execute a perfect tuck-and-roll maneuver, skating on afterwards as though nothing had happened.

Perfectly normal.

Friday was fairly uneventful - Adam didn't teach on Fridays, so he opted to stay in bed most of the day, imagining he was curled up at home with absolutely nothing strange going on. This was, perhaps, the only thing that saved him from losing his mind on Saturday.

Saturday, of course, being the other day Rocky taught the Intermediate Adult Karate class. The one attended by Jamie, Shawn, and Gabe.

Adam, in a fit of what could only be insanity, opted to sit in on Rocky's class. This had nothing to do with the fact that otherwise, he'd be forced to wait in the entrance, with Maggie and Ebony.

Maggie had warmed to Adam somewhat, although why, Adam couldn't say. He suspected it had a lot to do with how very uncomfortable Jamie made him. The two young women didn't seem to be able to get along at all. Adam found that while Jamie's constant flirting and glomping and generally lewd behavior gave him the urge to claw his way up the wall every time she came near, Maggie didn't bother him nearly as much. They could hold intelligent conversations, and had discovered a mutual love of dry humor that made chatting with her much more fun.

Ebony, however…

Adam could never quite get over how the petite young woman could sneak up on him. He was a Ninja Ranger! What the hell had happened to his mad ninja skillz? Paired with her stony stare and eerily monotonous voice, Ebony was just plain creepy.

All of this, of course, had nothing to do with why he'd chosen to watch the twenty-somethings go through their kata and practice blocks for an hour.

He'd pretended, as he'd done on Thursday, that nothing strange was going on. Though a suspicious amount of students had been toppled like dominos more than once, the ex-Ranger could easily chalk that up to inexperience. They just weren't that good. He knew he was insulting Rocky somewhat by suggesting that his students were dunces, but it was much less anxiety-inducing to do so.

His pretense had unfortunately failed when, whilst sparring with Shawn, Gabe had executed a perfect snap-kick that would have been much more impressive had he not put his foot through the wall and gotten it stuck.

Instead of rushing to help, or even watching others rush to help - Maggie had appeared in the doorway as if by magic, snapping orders left and right, while Jamie supported her friend to take the strain off and help keep him still; Shawn had set about looking for tools to extract the boy, and Ebony kept the gawking, giggling students back and herded them out of the space - Adam had looked at Rocky, and off his best friend's helpless shrug, had put his head between his knees and hyperventilated.

That night, he crawled back into bed and informed Rocky that he would be staying right there until he had to go back on Monday evening. Rocky had shrugged again, but had refused to let Adam quiver under his blankets for long. Bright and early on Monday, Rocky suggested they hit the mall. There was some new video game being released that Rocky had special ordered, but Adam failed to see how his presence was required. To his chagrin, Rocky was not taking no for an answer.

Adam had long lost the ability to be surprised by anything that happened in San Diego, and so he only felt mildly resigned when, as they were heading to the food court, a young man in a plastic Donald Duck mask, open trench coat, and nothing else plowed through the crowd across the way, followed by two beet-faced, struggling mall cops. Adam wondered if the beet-faced, struggling part was required in order to be hired as mall security. He didn't have time to think any further on this, though, because just as Rocky was heading in the flasher's direction, a petite brunette thrust out one arm-warmer-covered limb, clotheslining the perp without so much as a second thought. As the rent-a-cops huffed and puffed their way over, Jamie caught sight of Adam and Rocky and grinned, stepping over the groaning nudist as though she hadn't just done him significant damage. Gabe followed quickly, either not noticing or not caring that he stomped on the prone man's stomach to do so. Shawn, being the polite soul that he was, opted to walk around the poor guy.

Adam had watched as the flasher was cuffed and dragged away, tuning out the rest of the world as he focused on the three disturbing individuals in front of him.

It would only get worse, he realized. The longer he stayed and denied what was happening, the more chaotic and insane his life would become. If he had half a brain, he would just go. Forget Rocky, forget the dojo, forget the signs pointing to Very Bad Things Coming, Adam had known then that if he wanted to escape the Bad Things without getting involved, he would have to leave _now_.

Gabe offered him a small smile and a wave before limping over, his casted foot not seeming to bother him. The paramedics had said it was only a hairline fracture, and that if he stayed off it, it would heal quickly. Somehow, Adam was not surprised that Gabe refused to stay off it.

Pinks did not like to sit still for long.

Holding out a magenta Sharpie, Gabe gestured to his cast. "Wanna sign? The rest of the group did."

And just like that, Adam knew he couldn't leave. It wasn't even a matter of not getting caught up in Evil, or returning to the calm and order of his life in LA. He'd been _included_. Somehow, when he hadn't been looking, he'd been sucked into this mismatched group of friends. He was one of _them_ now, and no matter how far he ran, he would always be one of _them_.

Glaring at Rocky, Adam suspected he'd been one of _them_ the moment he'd battled to the death with the front door.

In one last act of defiance against the forces of Destiny (damn her), Adam took the marker and scrawled a message that any Ranger would understand, capped the pen, and turned to Rocky.

"You owe me," he growled.

As they walked away with a brief 'see ya,' Adam heard Jamie snorting over his message.

"'Get out while you can.' How cheery."

"He's a very tense man, isn't he," Shawn could be heard musing.

"Well," Gabe was reasoning as their voices faded into the hubbub of the mall crowd, "around this group, who wouldn't be?"

And now it was Wednesday again, and Adam was alternating between wanting to see just how far he could get from San Diego before Destiny kicked in, and longing for a four-day weekend to spend on the beach sipping pina coladas and watching kids bury their parents in the sand like little tiny soldiers for the Russian mob.

As he trudged into the Red Dragon Dojo, Maggie grinned up at him. Remembering the first time he'd seen Maggie grin (when Jamie had been griping about how her duffle still smelled like monkey ass), Adam shivered a bit. It was the sort of grin one saw on sharks, and tended to be the last thing one saw.

"Hello, Adam," she said genially. "How are you this afternoon?"

"About five seconds from running screaming into the sunset," he muttered back.

"Since that's about six hours away, can you put these in Rocky's office for me? Thanks."

Without waiting for his answer, she dumped a stack of pamphlets detailing the application process for a youth tournament in his arms and went back to her typing. Adam grumbled to himself as he made his way to Rocky's office. What could she possibly be typing? Her diary? Her autobiography? He half-suspected she was writing fanfiction all day.

Without warning, the floor leaped up beneath him, then dropped away, sending Adam and pamphlets sprawling in the corridor. Earthquake, his brain supplied, and he rolled into the doorway of Rocky's office, bracing himself against the doorjamb and waiting for the tremors to pass.

Being a Southern California native, Adam wasn't really bothered by earthquakes in general. This, however, was an earthquake in San Diego, where he'd spent the last week-and-a-half observing all the disorder and general hoo-ha that typically surrounded Power Rangers, seemingly focused on a new group of people. That these people treated the chaos like a normal thing told Adam that either they were very stupid or very used to it, so he doubted it was just a bad week for them, or a result of attending the dojo of a former Ranger. The color obsession, the tendency to cluster, the refusal to let anything ruffle them - these were all signs of budding Rangers.

This, in and of itself, would have been fine. But as any Ranger knew (as Rocky damned-well knew, the traitor), new Rangers weren't called unless there was something for them to fight.

New Rangers + Earthquake = Bad Things Coming.

This was what Adam had been afraid of.

Fucking Destiny.

:::

Gabe leaned back against the tree behind him, shading his eyes against the sun to gaze out across the campus courtyard. The earthquake on Wednesday had done minimal damage to the landscape, and students were milling about talking, texting, studying, and goofing off. It was a cheerful scene, and it took Gabe's mind off of the hectic events of the last week or so.

Hectic events that he could pretty much chalk up to Adam existing.

Well, that wasn't totally fair, he supposed. It certainly wasn't Adam's fault Gabe turned into an uncoordinated, incoherent disaster-area whenever the older man was around.

Though it had really started the moment he'd seen Adam, the humiliation didn't truly begin until he'd spotted the man's jet-black Maserati in the parking lot of Sonic. Gabe's Sonic, where he worked. Adam was _there_, having lunch. Irrationally, Gabe was momentarily seized by the hope that Adam had come to see _him_. Then reality had bitch-slapped him, and he remembered that all Adam had seen of him was his mildly embarrassing imitation of Paul McCartney. Or Stevie Wonder. Not that imitating Stevie would have been any cooler than imitating Paul. Or that it mattered.

Gabe cringed internally when he thought of how, driven by utter lunacy, he'd shoved the carhop about to take Adam's order out.

Being that two-thirds of the staff inside the tiny enclosure were on roller skates, this had probably not been the best idea Gabe had ever had.

Within the space of a minute, the six other people in the space had been lying, groaning, on the tile. One unfortunate girl had grabbed the lever of the shake machine in an attempt to get her feet under her, and had ended up with at least half a gallon of freezing frozen yogurt oozing over her hair and down her shirt. Another carhop had managed to upend an entire container of strawberries (plus syrup) on himself. The man working The Swamp (being the area full of deep fryers) had thankfully not been close to the fryers, and had ended up being covered in old, cold, filthy grease.

Thankfully, no one had been seriously injured…at first. But then, in his rush to expedite Adam's order, Gabe had knocked his manager face-first into the fry warmer, which had just been restocked with steaming hot, greasy fries. Red-faced and screaming, the man had flailed about until Gabe tugged him into the back and shoved his head into the sink, letting a deluge of cold water blast the poor man in the face.

As carhops rushed into the back to make sure their boss wasn't going up in flames, Gabe seized to opportunity to grab Adam's order and run for it.

The humiliating part, of course, had been when he'd stuttered over the order and, even worse, had dropped change everywhere when Adam handed him his tip. Of course, it gave Gabe a chance to bend over and show off his fabulous glutes, but scrambling around like a virgin on her first date did not a great impression make.

Though the whole episode had gotten him general applause from his coworkers when their manager had to be taken to the hospital for minor burn treatment.

That night, he had reassured himself that nothing could possibly have been worse than that, and that Adam hadn't even seen the really bad part. Much to Gabe's dismay, it had gotten worse. That Saturday, he'd gotten his foot stuck in the wall while trying to show off his kick-ass…well…kicks. Granted, managing to put a sizeable hole in a wall had been deemed very impressive by Jamie, but when he'd glanced at Adam, the man had been rocking back and forth in the corner and seemingly paying Gabe no attention.

That had hurt his pride a bit, until he reminded himself that this wasn't the sort of situation he wanted the older man to see him in. And Shawn had said they'd put up a poster of Adam Lambert over the hole in his honor so long as Gabe never did it again.

Maggie had laughed her ass off over the ordeal, but had patted him on the shoulder and offered to be the first to sign his cast. Gabe had been touched by the sentiment, and had even gotten a few warm fuzzies over her message: 'Fortune favors the brave.'

That was also the only time Ebony had ever smiled at him. He thought it made her look a great deal less like a character from Buffy: The Vampire Slayer.

He felt he'd redeemed himself slightly during the Mall Incident, if only because he hadn't been full-body tackled by an exhibitionist. Gabe reminded himself to thank Jamie for that when they had a moment away from prying ears.

The earthquake hadn't been so bad, either, except that it seemed to send Adam into a mild panic attack during which he was mumbling 'Destiny! Destiny! No escaping that for me!' over and over. Gabe had thought it best not to mention that he was a Mel Brooks fan, as well.

The quake hadn't bothered Gabe much. The first one he'd experienced had been freaky, but that had been so long ago, and there had been so many since, he could barely remember what it was like to be scared of them. He'd had what he could only describe as hot-flashes for the rest of the day; the rest of the group had complained of being overheated at times, so he assumed it was the central air on the fritz.

He was now sitting with Jamie and Shawn; they had their next class together - Math Theory, the bane of their existences. He spotted Maggie reclining under another tree, Ebony sulking nearby in the shade. It was the most relaxed he'd ever seen the Brit, who gave aggressive a whole new meaning.

Suddenly, people were screaming. A pair of football players were hurled to the ground at Shawn's feet, and students were scurrying every which way in a panic.

A sinister laugh filled the air, causing the hairs on the back of Gabe's neck to stand on end.

As the crowd thinned, he could see the source of the panic. There, in the center of the courtyard, stood a man. At least, Gabe assumed it was a man: he couldn't see much of him, due to the stereotypical ninja outfit the man was wearing.

Beside him was a very large…_thing_. It was mostly white, with one red arm, and one blue arm. It wouldn't have looked so strange, Gabe mused, if it's head hadn't been made of a large blue-ish jug of water, like those found in water coolers.

Shawn groaned. "Am I the only one that thinks irony should die a slow, painful death for this?"

"You're the one who said it," Ebony pointed out from behind them, causing the trio to almost jump out of their skins.

Maggie kept her eyes on the two…people in the courtyard, tossing her cell phone from hand to hand. "I'm thinking calling 911 won't be much help here."

"_This_ is why we need Power Rangers in San Diego," Gabe grumbled, taking off his jacket and folding it neatly. He could only hope the water-cooler-alien-thing didn't ruin his jeans.

Damn it, they were the _same jeans_ he had been wearing the last time a water cooler had screwed with them.

"All right, peons! It's time to drown in misery," The thing warbled in a gurgling voice.

The five young adults glanced at each other before leveling incredulous looks at the ninja. He shrugged. "I don't make 'em, I just back 'em up."

Without another word, the ninja lunged at the group.

:::

Cradling his head in his hands, Adam tried unsuccessfully to hold back a hysterical giggle. Rocky patted him on the back as he watched the chopper footage of the fight at the college.

Remembering Shawn's comment about water-cooler-monsters, Rocky nearly let out a giggle of his own.

Though the monster looked just as dumb and ungainly as every monster they'd ever fought, his ninja buddy was a formidable opponent. He didn't appear to have any trouble taking down Rocky's students.

Then, like a truly foolish bad guy, the ninja stood over his fallen foes, laughed evilly, and _left_.

"These guys just never learn," Adam murmured, now glaring at the television like it had stolen his sister's virtue.

"Forgive me if I don't feel the need to educate them."

As the monster started pummeling the kids with jets of freezing water, Rocky felt an uncomfortable tug in the pit of his stomach, just as the five fighters on the screen were enveloped in a kaleidoscope of lights and colors that forced the news cameras offline for a long moment,

When they returned, they were quickly focused on a group of…ninjas?

Well, not quite. The tunics were sleeveless, and the leggings on the girls only reached mid-thigh. Still, the resemblance to the Ninjetti outfits was uncanny.

And now the newscaster was gasping and shouting excitedly, "Yes, Bob, it is! It's a new team of Power Rangers!"

Slowly, ever so slowly, Adam turned to glare at Rocky.

"I. Hate. You."

:::

Author's Note -

So it begins! Yes, we're aware that it begins in chapter three, but still…

Ninjas!

Yes, we are eventually working up to Gabe being madly in love with Adam and not just crushing like a schoolgirl. And, no, this is _not_ Rocky/Adam, as stated in the summary.

We want to give a huge thank-you to our first two reviewers, fdfrigid and Ghostwriter. We hope you guys stick with us all the way!

Much love to CrazyGirl47 and Freyja SilverWillow (who we apologize to for not previously crediting), with Bryn Spikess (ditto.) Their story Of Love And Bunnies inspired us to write this - we sincerely hope they don't come after us with sharp, pointy things for trying to pin this on them. It's not their fault, honest!

Please, please, please - if you read this and like it, _please_ review. Nothing makes an author glow like the occasional 'hey, nice job!' So, please, take five minutes and click on the 'Review' button and type in a Smiley face. Or something.

More To Come (that's a promise…or possibly a threat),

Plus2Brilliance


	5. Evil Sandwich

Chaos Theory

::::::::::

By: Plus2Brilliance

:::

Chapter Four - Evil Sandwich

:::

Maggie felt ill.

She knew exactly who she was. She was a controlling, over-achieving, ambitious perfectionist. She talked too much, lost her temper too easily, and never learned to pick her battles. She was thorough, but usually at the expense of her free time. Her own goals were always more important than other peoples'. She had the drive and the know-how to be a leader, but she lacked the power of empathy.

And she was a Red Ranger.

She stared at the crater that used to be a courtyard and felt the panic rising. She had just helped four other people kill something. Granted, that something had been trying to drown them, but it was still dead, and Maggie was responsible.

This was not the sort of thing Maggie wanted to be responsible for.

She looked around at the other new Rangers. They were dressed like she was, in sleeveless tunics, leggings that looked like bike shorts for the girls, trousers like harem pants on the lads, white elbow-length gloves and white knee-high boots. And then there were the hooded masks that exposed only their eyes.

In the center of their chests were golden crests with kanji etched into them. Maggie decided that she didn't really want to find out what they meant. It was just another sign of something going Very Wrong.

"Okay, when I said we needed Rangers, I didn't mean _us_," Gabe groaned, glaring down at his gloved fingers like they'd insulted his parentage.

Shawn shrugged, and Maggie noticed that there was a different kanji seemingly tattooed on his upper arm. She glanced around and saw the same symbol on the shoulders of the others.

She refused to check her own arm. She just refused.

"Nothing we can do about it now," Shawn reasoned, sounding far too calm for someone who had just been charged with saving the planet. "We've defeated the bad guy this time around, and if we can figure out how to make these outfits go away, we can go back to our normal lives until something ugly pops up again."

"Like my History professor," Jamie piped up hopefully.

Yes, they were entirely too accepting of this.

"Okay, people, listen up," Maggie snapped. "We've apparently been dragged into the world of the weird against our will. Shawn's right about there being nothing we can do about it, so I suggest we get somewhere away from prying eyes and news cameras," What if they got us morphing on tape, she thought anxiously before deciding there would be time to figure that out later, "where we can power down, then head home and get a good night's sleep before we worry about how to deal with this."

"Do you think we get Zords," Ebony wondered aloud, sounding almost interested.

Maggie growled. "We'll worry about that when we come to it, okay? For right now, let's just try to play it cool and _not_ go running around like crazy people who just got turned into superheroes."

As they scurried for cover, Maggie wondered if the costume came with a return policy.

:::

As it turned out, Maggie didn't have to worry about the news footage. They'd barely been visible, and any attempts by computer experts to enlarge or enhance the footage failed epically. In a brief conversation with Shawn between dinner and studying, Maggie had offered the theory that the Power helped keep people from finding out their identities.

They had spent a bit of time wondering about Gabe's problem; apparently, the morphing had healed his broken foot instantly, when it should have taken weeks for the cast to come off. Maggie had told Shawn to remind Gabe to keep his cast on and limp when he walked, to which Shawn had agreed.

"_We can't let anyone find out," Shawn reminded her._

_Maggie sighed. "I know. Bloody hell. The one thing I could put on a resume that would get me any job I wanted and I can't fucking tell anyone."_

"_You know this'll cut into your extra-curricular activities, Ms. Student Body President."_

"_Shut. Up."_

But then they'd gotten to the dojo on Saturday - the five of them had walked (or, in Gabe's case, limped theatrically) through the door together. The newly-appointed Red had groaned in her head. If they were going to keep this a secret, they had to work on not acting like a team.

Her team.

Maggie was currently setting up her appointment database, entering the information about the youth tournament in Sacramento. It was a good distance away, but it would be good for some of the adults with a competitive streak to match skills against other martial artists. Rocky had agreed with her on that, even asking her to set up a financial aid account to help those students who couldn't afford travel and lodging costs.

Rocky was a strange individual, Maggie thought privately. Though he was a goofy guy most of the time, Maggie could tell he knew much more than he let on. He was observant, especially in regards to people's emotions, and seemed to have a natural instinct for carefully nudging people where he thought they should go without outright manipulating them.

It was a bit scary.

Ebony had picked up a magazine and settled into the corner to flip through it. Recognizing a photo of Russell Brand on the cover, Maggie shook her head. Some people were interested in the strangest individuals.

Jamie was on the floor playing poker with Shawn and Gabe. The three of them tended to cluster together more than Ebony and Maggie did, and the British woman supposed it had a lot to do with their more outgoing personalities.

All in all, everything looked as normal as it ever did.

She was, therefore, quite surprised when Rocky and Adam entered from the back, adopting identical stances comprised of crossed arms and feet planted at shoulder-width, though Rocky tended to throw his chest out and lift his chin more. A classic I'm-The-Boss-So-You-Just-Do-What-I-Say-Or-I-Shall-Thump-You-But-Good pose. Maggie had her own version, but it tended to make men stare at her bosom rather than bend to her will.

Adam's own pose had just enough pout in it to make Maggie giggle internally. She rather liked Adam, although he reminded her eerily of her cousin Seth with his quiet regard of the general goings-on and his almost psychic-seeming observations.

"We know," was Rocky's opening gambit.

Maggie had been prepared to blow him off as if he was mistaken. Her Protest Innocence Gambit was ruined, however, by Gabe scattering playing cards everywhere in a rather impressive way that resembled a fireworks display.

"Know?" Shawn raised an eyebrow as he helped gather the errant cards. "Know what? Because if it's the fact that the economy is going to take at least sixty years to recover fully, we covered that in Business 101 three semesters ago."

"Maybe they just found out that Dumbledore is gay," Ebony supplied, her nonchalant tone slightly ruined by the fact that she was paging through the magazine backwards.

"Nah," Jamie picked up, tapping her fingers against her knee spastically, "they saw that 60 Minutes special on corrupt mail carriers running an identity theft ring last night."

Maggie met Adam's gaze. The hard obsidian eyes were full of resentment that shocked the young woman until she noticed that it was accompanied by empathy. She honestly wished she could exhibit that emotion.

Behind both of those feelings was a deep well of knowledge. There was no hiding this from Adam - he _knew_.

"Amusing, but no," Adam snarked, leveling a fierce glare at Rocky. Well, that was odd, Maggie thought. "We know that you're the new Rangers."

Gabe burst into hysterical giggles. "Rangers? Us? No way! That's just crazy! Isn't that crazy, James? It's just…crazy," he finished in a high-pitched tone, eyes wide and fearful.

"Uh, yeah. Crazy," Jamie agreed, rolling her eyes at her best friend.

"Leave off, guys," Maggie muttered, turning back to her database. "They know. We'll deal with them as necessary."

Rocky's eyes widened. Maggie grinned inwardly. She had sounded rather like a Bond villain about to end the hero with a clever invention that always includes a saw of some kind. "Whoa, whoa," he hurried to reassure them, "no need to panic. We used to be Rangers, too, after all."

Five pairs of eyes stared at Rocky incredulously.

"Goofy meathead with the bottomless pit stomach say what now," Jamie sputtered.

Adam sighed as though the weight of the world was on his shoulders and sat down on the edge of Maggie's desk.

She really hated it when people did that.

"We were Rangers. We were on the original Mighty Morphin' team, actually. Black," he jerked his thumb at himself, "and Red," he finished, gesturing towards Rocky.

There was a long moment of silence before Shawn grinned. "Well," he chirped cheerfully, "that explains a lot."

:::

He groaned inwardly as he felt the summons from his master.

_Figures he can't go five minutes without riding my ass about something._

Trudging in the direction of The Master's chamber, he started running through the usual excuses.

_I ran out of gas. I, I had a flat tire. I didn't have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn't come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake! A terrible flood! Locusts! IT WASN'T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD!_

Yeah, one of those should work.

Snickering to himself, the man slunk silently through the corridors.

He would never get the décor of this place. It was medieval, definitely, and about as depressing as realizing that somebody in your graduating class would probably be president someday. Stone architecture straight out of Macbeth, complete with arches and buttresses and those stupid torches that leaned out of the walls, made up the lower levels. Only when you got to the last few floors - gloriously open to sunlight - did the place resemble anything modern. That is, assuming the 1930s were considered modern.

Neatly avoiding having his hood set ablaze by a flaming torch, he ducked into The Master's private chamber.

It was bare of any furniture save for a stone platform built into the back wall. On the platform, black as ebony and surrounded by an unearthly chill, was a sarcophagus.

It was plain in form, coffin-shaped and smooth, and lit by lanterns on either side, lanterns that glowed green. Though he had never dared to touch it, the surface of the coffin looked like a polished gem. The only marking on it was a silvery skull at the top.

He'd found that if you looked directly at the sarcophagus, the light threw horrible shadows that looked like screaming faces, the faces of the damned.

Yeah, it had to be the light.

"You summoned me, Master," he murmured before dropping to one knee and placing his right fist over his heart.

_**Yes. My creature failed me. You failed me, my most loyal servant.**_

"Forgive me, Master. I will not fail again," he insisted.

_Bite me, Master. I don't get paid enough to deal with Power Rangers._

And he knew all about dealing with Power Rangers.

_**No. You will not. I have been drawing from the minds of the worthless hordes that slither about this planet that these magical knights-**_

"Power Rangers, Master. They are the heroes of this planet, and they are very strong."

_**Yes. The mindless drones imagine that these Power Rangers will save them from my unstoppable might. We will not allow this.**_

He wanted to agree, he really did, but he knew what Rangers were like. He knew that if they didn't move carefully and intelligently, they would be overwhelmed by the forces of good.

"What do you command, Master?"

_**Bring me a warrior, my wily friend. Bring me someone strong in form, yet weak in will.**_

Ah, yes. And he knew just who to bring, too.

"Your will be done, Master."

Bowing his head, he wondered briefly why he was talking like a bad B movie sidekick. He had a vague notion that he didn't used to be like this.

_**And bring me a sandwich, as well.**_

Shaking his head sadly, the servant left the chamber with a limping gait. "Yeth, Mathter," he sniveled in a remarkable impression of Marty Feldman in _Young Frankenstein_.

_I really watch too many movies._

:::

Although finding out that Rocky and Adam had been Rangers was a bit of a relief, Maggie could still feel the tight sensation of panic in her gut.

Or maybe that was the greasy Sonic chips she'd had for lunch.

She was late for her Art Theory class, and she blamed the stupid Ranger Thing. If she hadn't been so caught up in training at the dojo with Rocky and Adam, she wouldn't have been late at all.

Trying to pick up her pace, balance her stack of books, and check the time on her mobile, Maggie didn't even notice the man standing in front of the bulletin board until she'd bowled him over, sending herself skidding backwards on her rear. Her belongings, papers, pens and all, scattered around the hallway until it resembled a tiny demolition site.

"Bloody hell, watch it," a gruff voice growled at her.

Blinking up at the man, who was now climbing to his feet with a scowl, Maggie felt the ever-present panic bubble up into anger.

"Maybe if you hadn't been standing in the middle of the corridor like a giant roadblock, I wouldn't have run into you, you oaf!"

The man's expression of irritation melted into a bemused look, turning his eyes from nearly black to a soft brown. "'Oaf'? Are we in the Middle Ages or something?"

"No," Maggie sneered, unable to tamp down the rising aggravation, "if we were in the Middle Ages, I'd have said 'Sir, methink th'art a boor, and a general offense to mankind.' And I'd have been right to do so," she added, trying to sweep all of her papers into a pile both quickly and carefully. They were, after all, her Chemistry notes, and she was doing poorly enough in that subject as it was.

"Here," the man said softly, handing her the stray books with an apologetic…smirk.

Well.

She took the books with a glower, sniffing dismissively at his sorry attempt at peacemaking. If she hadn't been so frazzled and…well, _herself_, she might have conceded that the incident was mostly her own fault, but it had not been the most calming of weeks. It had, in fact, been downright chaotic, but she didn't like to think that word unless she could help it.

_The monster was bearing down on Shawn, nearly crushing the man under a deluge of freezing water. Ebony was hacking up a lungful of fluid to her left, and to her right, Jamie was supporting Gabe, who had been knocked into a tree by the force of the water and was looking a bit woozy._

_Sickening cracks filled the air, and Shawn screamed._

_Something deep within Maggie snapped at the sound of Shawn's ribs breaking, and suddenly she was filled with a strange, burning power._

_-From Chaos thy Power flows, and from thee flows Chaos. Open thy heart and soul to Chaos, and thou shalt not falter or fail.-_

_The words, meaningless at first, had barely registered before the burning became an inferno, and rainbows of light seared her eyes. A crawling sensation covered her skin, and for one insane moment, Maggie was sure her flesh was boiling off._

_When she looked down at her hands, they were clad in gloves, and beside her stood four brightly-dressed people that fairly radiated with power._

_Words again filled her mind, and Maggie raised her hand palm up as though she was clutching a baseball._

"_Chaos Inferno!"_

_As a ball of fire writhed in her hand, Maggie knew._

_She was a Power Ranger._

"-okay? Miss? Hello? Fuck, you're not having a seizure, are you? Miss?"

"Huh?" Jerking herself out of her memories, Maggie drew in a deep breath and wrestled her roiling emotions back down beneath her layers of indifference. "What? No. Sorry. Ah…" Blinking a few times to clear the unpleasant images from her sight, Maggie opened her mouth to explain, realized that anything she said would sound insane, closed her mouth, and walked away.

"Hey, wait!"

Speeding up a little, the overburdened Red Ranger was still no match for the athletic man that followed her. He wheeled around in front of her and came to such a sudden stop that she ran right into him again. She nearly took another tumble, but his hands on her hips steadied her.

She would not think that his hands felt very nice on her. She just would not.

"Look," she bit off in her 'I-may-sound-civil-but-I'm-planning-your-untimely-demise-by-spork-disembowelment-on-the-inside' voice, "I'm terribly sorry if I injured you or your pride just now, but I'm late for class and I've had quite a harrowing week, so if you could just take a step to the left so I could squeeze past your compensating-for-something bulk, I'd be much obliged."

The man grinned at her, his dark eyes crinkling at the corners in an adorable way.

_Not adorable, annoying,_ Maggie chided herself. _Very, very annoying!_

"You're a bit hostile for such a young girl. You'd better be careful, you'll get wrinkles if you keep stressing so much," he added with a challenging gleam in his eye.

"Don't be so histrionic," she huffed, moving to walk around him. Her skin felt chilled where his hands had been, and Maggie wondered just how desperate a girl had to be to go for such an obviously muscle-brained moron.

The pest kept pace with her, even going so far as to relieve her of her heavier books. This made Maggie groan internally. Not only was he apparently the sort of man who thought girls were to be coddled and sheltered, she was now unable to simply make a run for it, because he had her property with him.

_Damn, damn, double damn._

"I like to think of myself as pragmatic, honestly. I don't go in for theatrics."

Maggie grit her teeth. So it seemed her stalker had at least some education beyond how to open beer bottles with other peoples' teeth. That didn't mean she had to like him.

When she saw the door to her classroom come into view, she did a mental victory dance that would put American footballers to shame.

"Thanks ever so much for babbling at me uselessly," Maggie snapped, snatching her books away as though they might catch fire if he held on to them any longer. "This is my class."

The man just grinned at her obvious attempts to put him off and pulled out a piece of paper. Mockingly taking one of her red Sharpies, he clicked it open with a flourish, scribbled something on the paper, then handed her both Sharpie and paper with an air of finality. Then, his smirk melting into a smoldering look, he leaned down until his lips nearly touched Maggie's ear.

"Use it," he whispered huskily before pulling back, winking at her, and walking away.

Swallowing hard, Maggie noticed belatedly that his messenger bag bore the emblem of the local high school, and beneath it were the words '1 Teacher'.

She entered the class, muttering an excuse to the teacher, who was so shocked to see her coming in a full ten minutes late that he didn't reprimand her. Maggie slid into a seat at the back of the class, and when she'd opened her books and booted up her laptop, she reached for the stupid scrap of paper.

With a shaking hand she traced the string of numbers, then ran her finger over the name beneath it.

'555-928-7571

Tyler West'

Breathing out a quivering sigh, Maggie carefully folded the paper and slid it into her wallet.

Not to keep, of course. It was just in case she needed to report him to the police for stalking. Because she'd never use it.

_Never._

She didn't notice the girl sitting next to her regarding her small, blushing smile with some alarm. She didn't even know she was smiling.

:::

Tyler West was almost skipping by the time he'd reached the corner. It was a sunny day, there was an administrator's day at the high school, and his quest to locate a decent yoga class had resulted in his run-in with that adorable, somewhat abrasive woman.

_Lady in reeeeeeed,_ he silently sang with a snicker.

Oh, yes, life was sweet.

The shadowy figure tailing him had him unconscious and deep within the labyrinth of his Master's stronghold in no time.

:::

Author's Note -

Chapter Four done. This message brought to you by Captain Obvious, Inc.

Please no Disco Inferno jokes - there will be plenty of time for that later. Unless of course, you want to submit a joke about Disco Inferno, in which case, thank you.

The Master (v.o.)…..Christopher Lee

Voice of Chaos (v.o)…Cate Blanchett

Tyler West…..Jason Statham

For those of you who don't know, the Twilight-obsessed half of Plus2Brilliance (Akiko), has a fic up called _Presents For Bella_. It would behoove you to read it.

The cooler half of P2B (p2-m1-b), has a fic up, as well, only hers is TMNT. It's called _How To Be Yourself When You're Not Yourself. _Read it and review, because if you don't you will die a lonely, bitter death full of miserable regrets.

Thanks again, and remember to review, or you'll be pressed into service making evil sandwiches for all eternity!

Plus2Brilliance

=)


	6. Welcome To Spamalot

Chaos Theory

::::::::::

By: Plus2Brilliance

:::

Chapter Five - Welcome To Spamalot

:::

It had been a week since the first battle of the Chaos Rangers, and Jamie was getting a bit paranoid (although she'd never admit it). Every time she turned a corner, she expected there to be another freaky monster waiting for her. Maggie, her illustrious leader (and here Jamie mentally snorted), showed no signs of freaking out, though, so Jamie couldn't very well panic, either.

The newly-appointed Black Ranger had always had the greatest respect and admiration for the Power Rangers; she'd always thought they were amazing, a small band of heroes standing against overwhelming odds. It never really occurred to her that she could be a Ranger, too. Incredible as they were, superheroes just never seemed like regular people to Jamie. Superheroes didn't run for pizza and flip burgers and pull all-nighters to pass their finals, right?

Then Rocky and Adam had revealed their own identities - former Power Rangers. And not just any Rangers, but part of the Mighty Morphin' team, the second Red and Black Rangers. And Rocky and Adam were regular people, weren't they? They were as normal as anyone Jamie'd ever known, anyway.

Then again, Jamie did tend to hang out with the odd sorts of people.

Speaking of odd sorts...

Crouched in the far corner, away from her teammates and steadfastly refusing to join in their warm-up exercises, Ebony was playing with an ornately-decorated silver lighter. Flicking it on, she would stare at it for a long moment, before flicking it shut again. Jamie, being fairly self-preserving, edged over to the other side of the dojo, hoping fervently that the forlorn-looking Goth wasn't about to set someone's hair on fire.

One never knew with Goths.

"Okay, guys, let's get to work," Rocky boomed as he bounded into the room like a hyperactive puppy.

This had the unfortunate side-effect of startling Ebony, who fumbled with her lighter and sent it skipping across the tatami mats (thankfully not lit). Muttering something undoubtedly Satanic under her breath, the Blue Ranger scurried after it.

_Didn't know Goths were able to scurry_, Jamie thought.

It wasn't that she didn't like Goths - she didn't really have much of an opinion about them one way or another, beyond 'doesn't all that pancake makeup clog your pores?' She liked Ebony just fine. She'd like her a lot more if she wasn't Perfect Maggie's best friend.

The Great Lighter Escape would have ended fairly blandly if Rocky hadn't made the horrible mistake of picking it up for her and handing it over with a bright, sunny smile. Flinching back like the older man was made of kittens and rainbows, Ebony fumbled the lighter again, which, sadly, ended with Adam (who had definitely chosen the wrong time to brush past the Goth girl) batting at his smoldering sleeve.

"Damned chaos. Get off, get off, get off. Out, out, damned chaos," he muttered, glowering at his smoking clothing like it had run over his dog.

Yeah, Rangers were weird.

At this point, the whole incident could either end with a sullen Adam and an awkward silence...or it could end the way every incident involving the newest Ranger team ended, which is in a spectacularly and unnecessarily complicated mess.

If it hadn't been Adam who had been going up in flames, it probably wouldn't have been the latter. As it was, it _was_ Adam, and of course, that meant Gabe had to rush to the rescue.

Jamie would give him hell for it later, because that's just what friends do.

Hurrying forward, Gabe ripped the cap off his water bottle and waved his arm in a wide, downward arc that served to douse the ex-Ranger in water from head to toe. As his sleeve sizzled half-heartedly and his hair drip-drip-dripped on his shoes, Adam heaved a resigned sigh and trudged back out of the room.

Silence. Someone coughed.

Gabe was staring at his now-empty water bottle oddly, as though he couldn't believe that much liquid had been inside it. Come to think of it, how _could_ there have been that much water? It was a twenty-ounce bottle, for God's sake...

Shaking his head bemusedly, Rocky clapped his hands once and bounced on the balls of his feet. "Okay, we really need to start now."

Gabe groaned theatrically, putting his hand to his forehead like a Victorian lady overcome with a fit of vapors. "Do we have to," he moaned pathetically, "we've been training nonstop for, like, a week!"

Snorting, Shawn smirked. "Yeah, can't we just put it all together in a training montage and get to the bit where the music dies down and we're chilling at the Tropical Smoothie?"

"Training montage?" Maggie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. Then she realized that her pose mirrored Rocky's and let her arms fall to her sides. "Who do you think you are, Rocky Balboa?"

Leading them through a few kata, Rocky then paired them up to spar. As Jamie and Shawn circled each other warily, they filtered out the sounds of Ebony tossing Maggie across the floor and Gabe doing his best to throw Rocky off balance by playing the weak little girly-boy (which made Rocky laugh and remind the feminine young man that he'd sparred with enough Pink Rangers to know better). Rocky had originally paired Gabe with Maggie and offered to spar with Ebony, but when the glum young girl had promptly tripped over her own feet and nearly put Jamie's head through the wall he had decided to amend the assignments.

"Y'know, it's a shame you couldn't get paired with Gabe," Jamie sniped, grinning at her Aussie friend, "He's the only person in the room girlier than you."

"Hey!"

Shawn snorted. "Yeah, that says more about your testosterone level than my fighting skills."

"I said, hey!"

"Oh, please, if you broke a nail you'd probably scream like a girl. Or, well...like Gabe."

"Again, I say _hey_!"

Without looking away from their strikes and blocks, the sparring pair snickered in unison. "Yes, Gabe, we heard you."

As they each continued to try to gain the upper hand, their moves became more and more aggressive, until finally, Shawn lunged at Jamie, intending to grab her by the throat and pin her. It would have been a fantastically successful move, if Jamie hadn't been quicker. Grasping his wrist in one hand and the underside of his upper arm in the other, she whirled around. Using his greater height and weight against him, she levered him up and over her shoulder and slammed him into the floor.

Into...and through.

Blinking, Jamie stared at the gaping hole where her teammate should have been. Dust rose and debris clattered down into the void as the rest of the Rangers hurried over, followed by a groaning Rocky ("You're fixing that, you know.") and a mostly-dry Adam ("How much do you want to bet there's some kind of Ranger-related freak-fest down there?").

"Did you just throw him through the _floor_," Gabe squeaked, looking torn between being impressed and being disturbed.

"Shut up." Crouching down so she could peer over the edge of the Shawn-shaped hole, Jamie squinted through the dust in the air. "Are you okay?"

Shawn winced, shaking his head to clear it and waving away the cloud of dust that had been stirred up by his impact. "Yeah, I'm good! Something crunchy broke my fall!"

He glanced over his shoulder to see where he was, when the 'something crunchy' caught his eyes.

"Eeeaaaargh!"

Leaning further into the hole, Jamie burst into giggles. "Did you just scream like a girl?"

There was a moment of silence during which Jamie's eyes began to adjust to the dim light of the cavern below, before a defiant "No" reached her ears. She could just barely make out Shawn beating at himself as though he'd walked through a spider web. And just where he'd fallen, almost completely pulverized by time and Shawn's bulk, was a skeleton.

_Well, that's just a nightmare waiting to happen._

As Shawn calmed, he glanced around with trepidation, as though he was expecting Imhotep to come shambling out of the gloom and suck out his soul. As his eyes adjusted and said gloom faded into barely-discernable shapes, the Yellow Ranger sucked in a startled breath.

"Uh, guys? You're gonna want to see this."

:::

The first thought that surfaced as Tyler struggled back to wakefulness, damp and chilled, head pounding, and the smell of mold and rotting carcasses invading his nostrils, was 'oh, not _again_.'

His second thought was 'please let me still have trousers on this time.'

This interesting insight into his private life aside, anyone listening in on his thoughts would have noticed that, forgetting the general dismay at the thought of being sans trousers, he had yet to panic. This was not so much because he wasn't aware that something was Very Wrong, and mostly because Tyler wasn't a terribly panic-able individual. He had long since learned that freaking out only made a situation worse.

If he had been given to anxiety, the sudden realization that he was shackled to the floor at the wrists and ankles would certainly have triggered _something_. As it was, it made him sigh internally and start running through a list of likely reasons to be chained in a dungeon. There weren't a lot, although his last girlfriend had been a bit on the unbalanced side.

"You don't freak out much, do you," a mischievous voice intoned from quite close by.

Tyler opened his eyes slowly, turning his head to raise an eyebrow at the figure standing just inside the shadows. He knew that voice - he'd heard it expounding on how much better white Play-Doh tastes than green more than once.

"I knew you were weird, mate, but I didn't think you were into the bondage scene," he growled. He didn't waste any energy trying to struggle against his restraints. He doubted his captor would be dumb enough to stand so close if they hadn't been checked and double-checked.

The figure laughed. It wasn't much of an evil laugh - too much giggle, not enough hysteria. "No offence, man, but you're not my type."

Tyler laughed. He couldn't help it. _Is this what panic feels like? It's been so long..._

"I mean, you're a good-lookin' guy, don't get me wrong. Slap on some lipstick and a pair of yabos the size of watermelons and I'd be all for it."

"You're really annoyed that I'm not more worried, aren't you? Because I have to tell you, I've heard worse threats."

"Dude, I don't even wanna know what kind of enemies you have."

"Well, you met Dana, didn't you," he intoned, trying to crane his neck to get a better view of the bastard.

"...good point." There was a slight pause, and then, "You still got her number?"

"How about we get on with the whips and pokers and forcing me to listen to that Rebecca Black song on a loop so I can get back to my day off?"

The man leaned forward, cloth mask covering what was, no doubt, the most shit-eating grin in existence. "Oh, no, you don't get off that easy. We use 'What's New, Pussycat?' in this dungeon."

"Evil, evil man."

Giggling again, the man turned to leave. As he opened the door, he paused, and Tyler could just see the warm glow of a match in the gloom. There was the slight stench of burning rubber for a second, and the man straightened up. "Oh, yeah, I forgot!"

He whirled around and shoved a bowl of something smoldering under Tyler's nose. "Courtesy sniff!"

The bewildered maths teacher barely had time to think 'what the-' before everything faded away.

:::

"So, let me get this straight," Gabe began, putting a hand on his hip and wrinkling his nose when he caught sight of the smudges of dust on his Stella McCartney top.

There was a slight pause, during which Jamie coughed and Ebony raised one eyebrow laconically.

Gabe rolled his eyes. "Ha, ha."

"You said it," Ebony pointed out defensively.

"Whatever. Look, do we actually think this is some kind of Chaos Ranger crypt?"

Shawn snorted. "No, Gabe, it's the Geico call center, and I just crushed the crumbling remains of their customer satisfaction department."

Throwing his hands in the air in frustration, Gabe sighed explosively. "No, that's fine, pick on me. I'm just trying to get all the facts straight, but if being sarcastic in my general direction makes you feel better, go for it."

"Funnily enough, it _does_ make me feel better."

Before Gabe could reply scathingly, Rocky jumped in. He knew such bickering was just a defense mechanism - all Rangers tended to snipe now and then, it just came with the territory - but he also knew that there was a time and a place for it. Knee deep in cobwebs and moldering bones while trying to play CSI is not that time or place.

"Let's try to keep calm," he said in a reasonable tone. "What have we learned so far?"

It wasn't much. After Shawn had finished his 'walked-through-a-cobweb' dance, the rest of the team had endeavored to find a way down. Unfortunately, the only way they could find was to jump down through the hole the Yellow Ranger had made in the floor, which meant that Shawn (being the nice guy he was) had to do his best to shift the nearest skeletons away. No one blamed him for being a bit tetchy after that.

The cavern was fairly extensive, and unlit save for the light coming in through the broken floor. They had debated a bit on how to explore until Ebony had sighed and pulled out her cellphone, using the lighted screen to peer into murky corners.

The chamber was fairly large, stretching out beneath the dojo and the empty building attached to it. It was rounded, with shallow recesses at regular intervals, each containing a rusted, tarnished suit of armor, not unlike the armor worn by medieval knights. And at the center of the room was a table.

A round table.

Maggie had trod on Jamie's foot almost as soon as she'd spotted it, but the Black Ranger had already gotten out, "We're knights of the Round Table-", and now it was stuck in the heads of everyone present. It wasn't so bad as the time Shawn had been whistling the Andy Griffith Show theme. Nothing was quite so creepy as hearing a Goth humming the Andy Griffith Show theme, but by the time someone had thought to turn on the radio, it had made its way through the dojo with a vengeance.

They'd gathered around the table, which was sporting a layer of grime and looked half-rotten, and Maggie had groaned when she'd spotted the kanji carved into the headrest of each high-backed chair. It was the same kanji each Ranger sported on their arm when morphed, which - as Rocky had helpfully pointed out - stood for 'chaos'. Hence, Chaos Rangers.

Which lead to their present discussion.

"It looks kind of like an ancient Command Center," Adam murmured, which made Rocky grin.

"Hey, yeah," he agreed in a tone that was far too excited to belong to someone up to his armpits in crumbly bones and cobwebs. "It's even got the Power Suit display...thingie."

Maggie rolled her eyes. "How eloquent."

"Waaaaaaiiiiiitaminit," Gabe interjected, waving his arms wildly and nearly clocking Ebony in the face. "You're saying those suits of armor are _Power Suits_?"

"Well, sure," Adam said tetchily. "Why not? They've got the same symbol, they look like they've still got traces of color that match your colors, and they're on display in a Power Ranger tomb. Sounds like the qualifications for a Power Suit to _me_," he finished bitterly.

Gabe deflated. "Oh. Um...right. Of course they are."

Rocky gave Adam a stern look. "What's got you so moody," he asked, his voice alone a stinging reprimand. Gabe was the kind of guy everyone circled around in times of strife, which was definitely a Pink thing, and Rocky was no exception. Still, Adam was his best friend, so he would ask first and trip him face-first into a cobweb later.

"Am I the only one that's noticed that _there are six of these dead guys_?"

There was a moment of silence before Shawn answered. "I think you're the only one who cares, mate."

But Rocky knew better. He raised his eyebrows at Adam and grinned. "What, you scared of getting your old ass shoved back into a lycra suit?"

"Yes."

"Come on," the former Red Ranger snorted. "You know if anyone gets called up again, it'll be Tommy."

Adam couldn't help but grin at that, and Rocky heard the muttered, 'arthritic Orange Ranger.' It served to boost both their spirits...until Ebony spoke up, that is.

"Not to be a downer," and here everyone did their best not to giggle, "but how are we getting out of here?"

The Rangers looked at each other, up at the jagged hole in the ceiling a good ten feet above them, then back at each other.

Gabe raised his hand. "I have an idea."

:::

An hour, a human ladder, a fight over what to do with the floor, and an angry monster face drawn on the water cooler in black Sharpie later, Rocky was ushering Maggie out and locking up the dojo with a sigh.

"Man, I itch _everywhere_," he moaned, trying to scratch the middle of his back with both hands.

Adam rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, if you hadn't bought a dojo on top of an ancient Japanese Californian medieval knight's clubhouse, it wouldn't be an issue."

"Nag, nag, nag. You're just worried you might have to go clothes shopping again."

"Shut up shut up shut _up_," Adam hissed. "Stop tempting Fate, you bastard." He paused, shielding his eyes against the midday sun. "Uh...Rocky, who's that guy looking at the _other_ unfortunately-positioned business? The one for lease?"

Whirling around, Rocky's eyes widened.

A young man was standing in front of the empty window of the building attached to Rocky's dojo. He had sandy blonde hair that was swept back off his face, and wore a tan suit and wire-rimmed glasses. Worse, he was carrying a briefcase.

Rocky did not trust random people walking around carrying briefcases. Not since the scarring incident with the Putties at that job interview. He'd had nightmares about Putties in pencil skirts and sensible shoes for _weeks_. So when the man waved him over and asked him how much he thought the building was being leased for, Rocky did the only think he could think of.

"Sorry," he said, rabbit-punching the guy in the nose.

Adam ran over, swearing under his breath. "You and your businessman phobia, I swear to _God_. Not enough you get us thrown out of Chili's over a lunch meeting, no. You have to punch out random people in the street." Kneeling beside the felled man, Adam pried open one eyelid and sighed. "I can't take you anywhere."

"He was asking about the building," Rocky explained calmly, eyeing the now-scuffed briefcase suspiciously. "We can't let people open something here, not with a secret chamber of Ranger secret...stuff underneath."

"Maggie's right, you're a loss to the public speaking world. You should write speeches."

"Shut up." Rocky sighed through his nose and paced around the unconscious man a few times. Adam tucked the briefcase underneath the man's head and waited for whatever insanity Rocky was about to spew.

"We'll have to set up a guard, I guess. Maybe spread some rumors about it being haunted, that always works. Do a little chain-rattling and wailing. Oh! You think Ebony would mind wandering around behind the window sometimes, just to give people a scare?"

"Rocky-"

"Oh! A plague! We could say someone caught the plague in there, draw spots on Shawn and he can do a little acting...yeah, that could work."

"_Rocky-_"

"Or maybe we should-"

"ROCKY!"

Coming to a standstill, the Hispanic man blinked at his best friend. "You haven't even heard the best idea."

Groaning, Adam wove his fingers into his hair and reminded himself that murdering your friends was a Bad Thing. Taking a few deep breaths, he looked back up.

"Or," he said slowly, "we could try _leasing it ourselves._"

"Why would we- _oooohhhhh,_" Rocky breathed, eyes lighting up. "Yeah, that's perfect!"

Adam managed a tired smile.

He loved his friend.

Really.

:::

He opened his eyes with a jolt, bypassing that weird phase between unconsciousness and consciousness entirely. His mind was a little fuzzy on how he'd gotten there, or why he was there, but he shrugged it off as he sat up. It wasn't important.

His black-clad compatriot grinned at him from across the room.

"Wakey-wakey, eggs an' bakey!"

"Shut up," he grunted, rubbing his temples. He had a bitch of a headache.

His tormentor giggled. "Aww, don't be like that, buddy! I'm just here to give you your first assignment from our master."

"Couldn't even wait until I'd got my hands on an aspirin."

"Nope!"

"Fine. What's the mission."

"Easy stuff. Just, y'know, kill the Power Rangers."

Tyler blinked up at his friend. Kill the Rangers?

A slow smirk formed. "Oh, that'll be _my pleasure_."

:::

Authors' Notes -

Well, there's that done. And way, way before March, so our two faithful reviewers can rest easy! Over to you, sis!

Thank you. Well, things are getting really close to getting exciting now! Hope you enjoyed it, obviously, and please review! I beg.


End file.
